Playing the rental car game

Today I had to drive down to Austin this morning and turn in the Keithmobile also known as the Silver Bullet also known as German Money Pit to the shop to get some work done...seems like it was time for a new water pump and timing belt, get my rims rebalanced and refinished, and fix my suddenly broken power driver window, which decided to stick down in the middle of a rain storm the other day, it was terrific getting soaked while inside the car let me tell you.

Anyway, so I have a rental for a couple of days. Normally this would not be a big deal, but a situation almost arose today on the way home from work.

I will explain....here is the normal Keithmobile, complete with a badass V8:I point out the V8 because when I push the big pedal on the right, it tends to go forward rather quickly, kind of like Chris Farley going after a cupcake.

Now here is what I have for a rental: A fabulous Hyundai Elantra. Nothing against Hyundais, but when one is accustomed to a big German rocketsled, one is kind of underwhelmed by the performance characteristics of said Hyundai

Let us compare one more vital stat: Audi horsepower =318. Hyundai horsepower = somewhere in neighborhood of 130. Umm that is a 3:1 ratio.

The reason I'm getting to this is because today, I pulled out onto a road with a semi about a block or two off....I think nothing of this. Until I push the big pedal on the right. And nothing really noticeable happens. Luckily, something wakes up in the engine after I about put my foot through the firewall smashing the gas down, although I did see "MACK" in the rear view mirror a lot closer than I really wanted to.

So beware switching cars and not thinking about it, or you may end up as a new bumper ornament for a vehicle much larger and heavier than you.

I'm baaaaaack.....

Well, I don't know if that's really newsworthy or not ("blind squirrel finds nut, news at 11....") but the monkeyshyne boys have their bass player back....I missed the hell out of playing bass with these guys, so seeing as I'm moving up to Dallas in a few months, coupled with me having a ton of vacation time, well it's been going kick-ass so far.

So anyway, last night we headed down to Deep Ellum and watched a bunch of different bands play....Some good, some not so good, some great. And it just got me thinking about how these guys and girls work their asses off to put on a show for us, the audience, rain or shine. People think that a band just shows up and their gear is magically on stage, they rock out, shake some hands, then that's it. One thing I've found out is that for every hour you spend on stage, there's probably twenty spent writing songs, or practicing, or lugging around a thousand pounds of gear and equipment, or eating chili cheese fritos while driving across north Texas at 3 am in a half-black, half-white 1987 Custom Crapomatic Ford van....it's a lot of work, to go with the moments of fun on stage.

So bring yourselves down to Deep Ellum next weekend....the Deep Ellum Community Music Festival is on Saturday night, and you get the chance to see 35 different local bands at 8 different bars...some of these bands kick ass! Frolic is doing their CD release, FFTN as well I think, Josh Goode, Sidekick Mafia, the list goes on...oh, and we're there as well, at 9 at the Liquid Lounge. Come out and support the local music scene instead of staring at MTV cycle their 8 videos of generally talentless bands endlessly....there are some kickass bands in your own backyard.

check out the festival's site at http://www.myspace.com/communitymusicfest

And to everyone I've seen again since I came back....good to see you again, and glad to be back.

Welcome

My name is keith AKA boy wonder and Mr. Ed, from there we can go anywhere...